The Queue: Sleeping off The Game Awards

Does Geoff Keighley not realize gamers are getting older? That we have bedtimes? Limited attention spans? Four hours of game trailers is just too much. By the end I had forgotten the beginning, the middle was a blur, and I was starting to doze off so I’m not completely sure how it ended. Hopefully someone won!

But I’m being too harsh. The whole show was worth watching just to see Statler and Waldorf call Geoff a sellout. The Outer Worlds 2 trailer was also extremely good, and possibly some other things happened.

But for now, let’s get to the Queue.

For a big show like this, it’s best to watch live and join everyone else responding in real time. That’s half the fun of a show like this: seeing what everyone else has to say, joking, laughing, occasionally nerd screaming at surprise announcements.

You can always have those conversations later, but there’s something about being there in the moment. (Even if the moment is past your bedtime.)

I did, and it shows 173 hours in Diablo 4, 173 hours in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and 82 hours in Dragon Age: Inquisition.

How embarrassing! My immediate reaction was that I need to play more Veilguard. Hopefully everyone else’s end of year recaps were less distressing.

They look cool. Looking cool is a completely realistic reason to use a bow. Fashion improves DPS, and carrying a bow has a certain panache.

But, okay, that’s not what you wanted. Bows and crossbows are also quiet, whereas guns are noisy. Bows and crossbows do not malfunction or break in the way firearms might, and don’t require as much knowledge to maintain and service. Bows and crossbows don’t require specialized ammunition that is made with uncommon materials. If we want to go for fantasy realism, firearms would be high technology: expensive to buy and maintain, with expensive ammunition, all of which may be rare and hard to find. It may be the sort of thing that’s totally out of reach for the average Azerothian.

Only when they’re fun.

It’s a game. We’re playing for fun, so if there’s an optional thing I’m going to do it… if it’s fun. So I’ve done ghost runs for the achievement in the Dishonored games (not killing anyone and not being seen). It’s a blast to play that way, though it takes more work than going through and slaughtering everyone. It was an achievement, and I didn’t get anything else for doing it. Comparably, in Horizon Zero Dawn there were Hunting Ground challenges that I did most of, not because they were fun, but because they had rewards. They were interesting little challenges, and offered unique ways to practice with weapons, trying to do specific things. But I found many of them frustrating, and struggled. I kept working on it, but never finished the last one. I finally gave up.

And that was the right call. I wasn’t having fun. It wasn’t make or break for completing the game. I’ve moved with my life.

That’s all for today friends. I hope you’re having a good afternoon, and a good weekend to come. Happy Friday 13th!